


Of Freedom and Fate

by crystalklances



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Altean Lance (Voltron), Alternate Universe, First Meetings, Klance Week 2017: Free Will vs Fate, Light Angst, M/M, Soulmates, basically Galra Keith/Altean Lance AU, well kinda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-17
Updated: 2017-05-17
Packaged: 2018-11-01 20:57:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10929906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crystalklances/pseuds/crystalklances
Summary: Keith is a knight of the Galra Imperial Guard who thinks this is all he would ever be. Lance is a young Prince of Altea with a lot of freedom.What will happen when they meet?





	Of Freedom and Fate

**Author's Note:**

> The themes for this klanceweek sadly didn't really give me the right inspiration. I wanted to write something anyway - this is the result.  
> I'm neither totally happy nor _unhappy_ with this but because I spent a bunch of time on it, I want to share it anyway.  
>  I think this is why I usually stick to fluff, ahaha.
> 
> I've also been really busy with various things (like the General Big Bang and the Klance Big Bang) + real life stuff (migraines, moving out which is not done yet), so I haven't been able to update Don't challenge Love or write much else. I joined several more projects (and want to join several more upcoming projecs), so it'll probably stay that way but we'll see.

Keith had often envied the young Prince of Altea.

Prince Lance had complete freedom; he could do whatever he wanted—well, within some boundaries, but anyway—whenever he wanted. Meanwhile, Keith, a young Knight of the Galra Empire, didn’t have much choice.

It was his fate to serve and fight, bound to the Empire.

He didn’t even know anything about his family, except that his mom had been a rebel and left him with a dagger, while his dad had been something other than Galra. He had no idea where exactly his dad was from, though.

And somehow, being an orphan from a very young age and fending for himself, he eventually ended up with the Empire where he was trained at the heart of the palace. The palace, of course, was more like a military fort, except much larger and more majestic, but that was neither here nor there. Keith quickly made himself a name and gained ranks until finally, he was a fixed part of the Emperor’s Guard.

The downside to that was that he had to also guard the spoiled, obnoxious son of Emperor Zarkon but that also was beside the point.

At least, currently there was no full-out war between the Empire and the Kingdom of Altea, though there was always tension.

Whenever there was a meeting between Emperor Zarkon and King Alfor of Altea, Keith was there, as well, standing guard behind the Emperor along with the Altean Guard. It was more like a formality, but it filled the Knights of either side with pride. The Altean Guard had fancy uniforms with armor plates, while the Imperial Guard was donned in full, practical armor.

Sometimes, Keith envied the Altean Guard, too. They had a lot of freedom as long as they fulfilled their duty. It was almost as if the very essence of Altea itself was “freedom.”

Even so, that wasn’t anywhere near his envy for the Altean prince. However, envy wasn’t the only thing he felt.

 

The first time he laid eyes upon Prince Lance, he was winded. The young Altean prince was, simply put, beyond stunning.

His soft, short brown curls were neatly styled to frame his face. His features had a type of delicate sharpness—befitting of royalty. His shoulders were broad, but his frame was more on the petite side with a slim waist and soft curves towards his hips (and his cute butt, but that was another story).

His robes were a mix between dress and suit, entirely in baby blue decorated with white, gold, and a tiny bit of pastel pink. They accentuated his frame perfectly, and Keith thought the colors suited him wonderfully.

The prince’s eyes were royal blue like ink but shining like the night sky. The color was accentuated by the red coloration of the prince’s face marks. Huh. Keith thought that was odd. As far as he knew, no one in the royal family had red marks, nor were they particularly common for Altean people in general, from what he had learned.

The young prince looked in Keith’s direction and their eyes met. Keith’s heart beat faster and he felt like there was some kind of connection, whatever that meant. The prince’s eyes widened and his lips parted slightly to form a little “o”-shape.

Keith felt like there was some kind of string between them, holding them together. But he had no idea where that image came from, nor what it meant. He certainly couldn’t SEE a string.

The moment was broken when the prince’s older sister, Crown Princess Allura, called for her brother.

The crown princess had an unmistakably regal air to her, though it was visible that she was still very young, about Keith’s age. She had a kind of mischievous spark much like what was always told of her brother. However, in looks, they were very different—Allura’s hair was long and white and her skin, like the king’s, even darker than Lance’s. Her eyes were the color of a summer’s sky with lilac around the center, and her dress and jewelry were much more luxurious as Lance’s.

The biggest difference, though, was that Keith just knew that she was _supposed_ to be the most beautiful; however, he had never thought this way, whereas Lance’s beauty captivated him from the very start.

There was also that ever since the moment he had met her on his first time accompanying a diplomatic meeting as part of the Imperial Guard, he had a feeling that they would clash. It had made him anxious to meet her famed younger brother: he was hoping they would get along better.

But, of course, due to being the younger brother and Allura being the crown princess, Lance had far different obligations, if at all. He had never come along to any meetings held on the Empire’s ground and likewise, had never shown himself in meetings held in Altea, despite living in the Castle.

Keith had often wondered why he was so elusive – if he really was as social as was always told by King Alfor as well as Princess Allura and the Royal Advisor, Coran, then why did he stay away? Did he not have any obligations at all? Did he have this much freedom that he could do whatever he wanted?

 

But now that he actually met him, Keith wondered why he was there now.

Keith reckoned that he had never left Altea—or even the royal palace—judging by the way he looked around, eyes shining with curiosity, drinking everything in.

Keith always thought that with how much freedom he had, Prince Lance must be a spoiled little prince. He had also never really known just how old Prince Lance was—but the age difference couldn’t have been more than maybe 2 years.

Now that he observed him, however, Keith learned that he was just about the friendliest and indeed most socially fluid person Keith had ever met. Sure, he was sassy when talking to his own kingdom’s party, especially his sister, father and their advisor, and he had a bit of a flirty air, but he was polite to everyone else, socializing as if he was old friends even with the servants.

Keith was utterly fascinated, captivated … and still more envious because the young prince seemed to have everything Keith didn’t.

The Galran knight actually didn’t mind his own personality traits or anything and his life as part of the Imperial Guard had always been fine with him … Until now.

Meeting Lance showed him that there was so much more to the world, so much more to life than doing his duty and guarding the Emperor.

And, part of him realized with a not-so-unpleasant chill down his spine, Keith didn’t just want the same freedom, to be able to do things on his own free will … most of all, he wanted to be with Lance.

But that was not supposed to be. Lance was a prince, albeit just the spare, as Keith had overheard him joke. Keith, meanwhile, was just a knight; always had been, always would be.

 

Keith stood guard behind the Emperor as well as Haggar and Prince Lotor during the dinner banquet on the first night of the diplomatic summit.

Galran Knights weren’t to take part in the dinner while it was customary for Alteans—but the Altean Knights adjusted to the Galran etiquette while they were here, just like the Galran Knights did the other way around. Keith honestly didn’t mind.

Prince Lance, however, seemed to think otherwise. The young prince frowned, looking at Keith and his fellow knights, then at the table. He hadn’t touched his meal yet. “Why are the guards not eating?” he asked, brows still drawn together in a frown.

“This is how things are in our Empire,” Zarkon replied curtly.

“But—“ Lance tried to argue.

King Alfor cut him short. “Please excuse my son. He’s still learning about different cultures,” he said.

Keith tuned out the rest of that conversation. He watched Lance, who was still frowning down at his meal but finally started eating, albeit slowly. He wondered why Lance cared to speak up for the Guards and what that was about, that he was new to learning about different cultures.

He tuned back in when Lotor addressed Lance. In parts, that was because part of him was always weirdly curious when the spoiled heir was concerned (like, he couldn’t look away, even when he had to cringe the whole time). The other part of him wanted to hear Lance speak more.

“If I may ask, Prince Lance, what brings you here after all this time?” Lotor asked. He was regarding Lance with boredom in his eyes and spoke in a drawling voice.

“Well, I want to become a diplomat,” Lance replied. “Or, at least, I am really interested in the profession and want to learn.”

“Oh?”Lotor raised an eyebrow. Not that anything changed about his tone of voice or the plain boredom in his eyes.

“Yeah,” Lance said. “Since I’m the younger sibling, I get to decide more freely what I want or _don’t_ want to do. I decided now that I really want to try diplomacy.”

“Wouldn’t it be normal for you to be married off somewhere or, I don’t know, become a priest or something?”

Keith really didn’t like the way Lotor spoke as if Lance was some kind of object just because he was born late. Keith would’ve loved nothing more than to hit the bratty heir over the head with his sword but that was completely against all orders. He may be impulsive as all hell, but he knew that he shouldn’t challenge his fate like that.

After all, he had nowhere else to go.

Lance’s eyebrows drew together in a frown once more. Keith glanced around and saw that all Altean Guards, as well as Princess Allura and Coran, looked ready to fight, just like himself.

“It might be for other places, but in our kingdom, we value freedom of decision,” Lance finally said. “And, besides, the only person I would marry is my soulmate…” Keith swore he could feel Lance look right at him. “… unless it was necessary for me to get married to ensure peace for our kingdom as well as others.”

Coran expertly moved in to steer the current conversation away from Lance at that point.

Keith couldn’t help but keep staring at Lance.

He didn’t know too much about soulmates, aside from what he overheard from people or read in books. But that always sounded so much like mere myths or something that only happened to some people, very rarely.

Did soulmates really exist? Could it be that he and Lance were soulmates?

But … that couldn’t be right.

Lance was a prince, with freedom, sure, but Keith was merely a Knight of the Imperial Guard, albeit a high rank.

The prince could make the choice but Keith … couldn’t. He couldn’t just leave with the prince, no matter how much he might wish to be with Lance.

And he certainly didn’t want to subject Lance to life in the Empire. Sure, it wasn’t too bad to him because he was Galra himself but for an Altean prince? That was just asking for danger.

Dinner continued like this, with Keith carefully watching Lance. He felt like everyone could tell, Lance included. He didn’t know how to feel about that.

Soon after dinner was when his own current shift on the Guard ended. He was about to leave for his quarters in the Guard’s wing—situated in a central position—when a voice called out to him.

“I never got a chance to talk to you, you know. I never even caught your name.”

Keith didn’t need to turn around to know it was Prince Lance. Nevertheless, he turned around; it was only polite. He also wanted to desperately talk to Lance, and since Lance was the one approaching him first…

“Is it really okay for you to speak to a mere knight like me?” Keith asked. He cringed at himself. He was supposed to say something eloquent, something cool, something … well, anything, but then this was what came out of his mouth.

Prince Lance, however, giggled softly. Of course!” he answered, quirking his eyebrows. “Why wouldn’t it be? I can talk to whomever I want, and I decided I really want to talk to you.”

“Well, uh, it’s an honor … I guess.” Keith wanted to cringe even more. He really didn’t do well with the whole etiquette and all that stuff.

He was rewarded with another soft laugh. “There’s no need to try to be formal or pressure yourself, silly!” He flashed Keith a smile, bright like the sun. “The name’s Lance, by the way.”

“I already know that, silly,” Keith said without thinking.

Lance’s nose scrunched in thought before he snorted. “Of course, that really was silly of me. But … since you know mine, you absolutely _have to_ tell me your name, as well. It’s only fair.”

“My name is Keith.”

Lance continued to smile, though it was softer, now. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Keith.”

“What do you mean?” Keith asked.

“It means,” Lance started, speaking slowly as if trying to explain a complicated topic. “That I knew you were out there _somewhere_ , I just didn’t know exactly where or quite _who_ , or _when_ I’d meet you.” He paused for a second. “That’s part of why I wanted to get into diplomacy, now. I kept feeling something whenever a meeting between Galra and Altea happened at the Castle of Lions, so I figured there had to be a connection. And I was right.”

Lance’s smile was soft and full of warmth like a summer’s day at the ocean, not that Keith knew a lot about the sea. “Here you are.”

“How … how do you know…?”

“I just … I just _know_ ,” Lance replied. “You felt it too, didn’t you?”

Keith only nodded. Lance was still smiling at him like that. Keith didn’t know what to do. He wanted this. He wanted to be with Lance. Wanted to make his own decisions. But he was also scared.

“I can’t just leave.”

“You’re right, it’s probably difficult for someone of your position,” Lance mused. “But … you can make your own fate, you know that, right? You don’t have to keep staying here just because someone decided it for you. You can stay. Or you can leave and come with me. It’s up to you.”

Lance turned to leave. But before he walked away, he turned his head to look at Keith over his shoulder. “You don’t have to decide so soon. But when you do … come and find me.”

Keith watched him leave. He let the prince’s words sink in.

Maybe … Maybe it really was true, maybe he’d be able to leave, make his own decisions, be where he wanted to be, with whom he wanted to be.

Maybe … Maybe he would really do it.

He continued on to his quarters, and the whole time, he couldn’t stop thinking about Lance and his words.

_It’s up to you._

Keith shivered. He balled his fists. He would find a way.


End file.
